Crews at Oregon Iron Works (OIW) in Vancouver, Wash. completed work on the first of two new transition spans for the Hood Canal Bridge April 22, 2008. The new west span -- or truss -- will connect the bridge's floating pontoons to a fixed approach span in Jefferson County.
The truss is enormous and measures 280 feet long, 70 feet wide and 35 feet tall. Fabrication work on the piping for the bridge section started in 2004.
OIW crews are now assembling the east span, which will connect the bridge's pontoons to an approach in Kitsap County. As the May-June 2009 bridge closure nears, both spans will be shipped by barge from Vancouver, west along the Columbia River, up the Washington Coast and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca to a location near the bridge site.
Current plans for placing the new trusses call for putting them on large supports on barges and using high tide to float them into place. As the tide recedes, the trusses will be slowly lowered. Hydraulic jacks will then be used to precisely install them.
Truss work was a featured article in the Hood Canal Bridge Project's Monthly Report. Read more about how the trusses will work...
Contractors guide the Hood Canal Bridge's new east truss out of the work
space at OIW, dwarfing nearby crew members. April 22, 2008.
Moving the gigantic truss wasn't an easy task. Hydraulic-powered wheels
manuever the 280-foot long, 70-foot wide and 35-foot tall structure. April
22, 2008.
A contractor steers the east truss through the OIW parking lot. April 22,
2008.